


Agape

by Mythical-Ross (ScorchedAngel)



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Frottage, Hand Jobs, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Pre-Slash, Religion, Religious Guilt, Speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 16:37:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19322002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScorchedAngel/pseuds/Mythical-Ross
Summary: The night before Link's wedding, he and Rhett discuss their relationship and whether Link is doing the right thing.





	Agape

**Author's Note:**

> **Hey! Don't read this... As much as I liked the premise of this fic, I never liked the way I wrote it and I've since re-written the whole thing. Please read the new and improved version[here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22453336)**
> 
> Ok, so look, this kinda triggered me when I was writing it so tread carefully if you were ever a queer kid from a religious background. 
> 
> It contains an awful lot of speculation about R&L's personal lives and their religious views growing up and is in no way based on their real lives. If anything it's based on mine! If that makes you uncomfortable don't read it. Or read it anyway but don't @ me.

The night before the happiest day of his life, Link was sitting in his childhood bedroom with Rhett, staring into space as his mind reeled. Rhett had sensed something was wrong and pulled Link away from the crowd of family and friends who had dropped by to wish them luck.

When Link proposed, he’d known it was the right thing to do. He’d found a woman he loved who loved him back and wanted to marry him. What he hadn’t considered was the person he’d already spent most of his life with.

Link was the first to break the silence. “Am I doing the right thing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on man, you know what I mean,” Link said, looking at Rhett’s face. “Should I be marrying Christy?”

Rhett hesitated, “I think you’re the only one who can answer that.”

“You understand what I’m saying though, don’t you?” Link looked down at his hands.

“I think so…” Rhett replied quietly.

“Once I’m married, I’m on track to be everything people expect. Good little Christian boy, married by the time I’m 22, father by 23 raising a good little Christian family.”

“And if you don’t?”

“If I don’t…” Link fell silent

“Say it Link,” Rhett encouraged, unable to get the words out himself.

“After tomorrow you and I can only ever be friends.”

Rhett nodded sadly. It’s what he’d hoped to hear but this late in the game, it didn’t bring him much pleasure. “Just friends.”

“I love Christy so much, but I… Rhett...,” Link gave Rhett a helpless look. “How can one love be so good and one love be so bad?”

“There are different types of love. Romantic love is-“ Rhett started to say, but Link cut him off with a shake of his head.

“It’s the same,” he said seriously.

“Yeah… me too,” Rhett said, placing a hand on Link’s thigh. Link covered it with his own and looked at Rhett, grateful he always knew what he meant.

“People always mistake me for gay. Sometimes I wonder if I’m just trying really hard to prove them wrong.”

“It’s okay if you are you know.”

“Same sex attraction is a sin and we both know it,” Link said, quoting every youth pastor they’d ever known.

“Yeah well, so is lying. Homosexuality didn’t even make the top ten.” Rhett pointed out.

Link gave him a small smile and shook his head in frustration. “I’ve asked God over and over to take these feelings away and he hasn’t. Why would He make me like this and then say it’s wrong?”

“Exactly,” Rhett said. “Because God doesn’t make mistakes. There’s nothing wrong with the way you feel.”

Link suddenly felt awkward. Church had been a shared part of their lives for as long as he could remember, but it wasn’t something they usually had to talk about out loud. “We don’t talk much about faith stuff, do we? You think this is why?”

“Maybe,” Rhett chuckled.

Link was quiet for a moment before asking, “Are we going to hell?”

“Of course not,” Rhett said quickly. “We haven’t done anything wrong”

“I guess… but isn’t thinking about it just as bad as doing it?”

“You’ve been thinking about it?”

“Of course, haven’t you?”

“I have, yeah…”

Link sighed again. “Why didn’t we have this conversation years ago instead of the night before my wedding?”

“What are you saying? If we’d talked about it sooner…”

“Things would be different.”

“Why won’t you just say you want to be with me?”

“You’re not saying it either.”

Rhett took both Link’s hands in his and turned his body to face him. “I want to be with you,” he said with such sincerity that Link felt tears stinging his eyes.

“Rhett…” he started, shaking his head.

“Why not? Let’s marry each other instead.”

Link took a moment to consider just what that would be like. He’d have to tell Christy. He’d have to tell his family. He’d have to tell everyone they’d invited to the wedding. He imagined his mom telling his grandma. He imagined his dad telling his work colleagues why the wedding didn’t happen. He imagined telling the other guys in their Men’s Group and what they’d think. Not for the first time, he wondered exactly how different his life would be if he spent the rest of it with Rhett instead of Christy.

Before Link had time to form an answer Rhett leaned forward until they were inches apart. "Kiss me," he whispered.  
  
Link didn’t move, his face wet with tears. Admitting his feelings was one thing; acting on them was another. “I can’t,” he whispered back.  
  
“You can. No one has to know.”  
  
Link sighed and turned his head. “WE’LL know.”

Rhett lifted his hand to Link’s jaw and turned his face back towards him. He stroked Link’s scruffy cheek with his thumb and waited for Link to meet his gaze.

“Cut it out man,” Link said with absolutely no conviction. He looked Rhett in the eye and realised he was crying too. “Aww Rhett,” he said, and pulled him into a hug.  
  
Rhett hugged him tightly unable to hold back the sobs shaking his whole body. “We’ve been idiots,” he said into Link’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” Link admitted. He breathed in Rhett’s scent, finding comfort in the sense memories it evoked. Part of him wanted to just stay there cuddling with his best friend and forget about his problems and the rest of the world.

They clung to each other until Rhett’s sobbing had subsided, their tears soaking into one another’s clothes. Rhett was the first to move, turning his head into the crook of Link’s neck.

Link felt like his heart stopped beating as Rhett’s lips pressed against his skin. The next kiss was slightly higher and closer to his jaw. The stubble on Rhett’s chin made Link all too aware of who was kissing him. “Rhett, stop,” Link breathed.

“Do you really want that?” Rhett asked, his words vibrating against Link’s throat.

Link hesitated. “...No,” he said quietly.

“Then kiss me.”

Link moved away slightly so he could look Rhett in the eyes. He wasn’t being fair. He knew they were both caught up in the moment. He knew they were already so close to crossing the line. It had all started with a simple yes-no question and had turned into a loaded request that Link was too weak to deny. He moved forward slowly, afraid of what would happen when their lips touched - even more afraid of what would happen if they didn’t.

Rhett finally closed the gap and pressed his lips against Link’s. If this was their last chance, he wasn’t going to waste it.

Link saw stars. His heart was certainly beating now. He lifted his hand to Rhett’s jaw and pulled him closer as Rhett hooked an arm around his waist. Link allowed himself to enjoy the feeling of Rhett’s big hands on his body. They had touched before, but it had always come with a sense of panic that it might be misinterpreted. He thought it would feel wrong to kiss another man, but it didn’t - but then this wasn’t just any man.

Link slipped his free hand under Rhett’s t-shirt and felt the soft skin underneath. He moved his hand from Rhett’s side to his lower back and trailed his fingers in circles. He was scared to go any higher or lower in case that was what Rhett considered ‘going too far’.

He needn’t have worried though - soon Rhett’s intentions were unmistakable. Soon his hand was on Link’s chest, thumb searching through his shirt for a nipple. Link have a little moan as Rhett found his target.

Rhett pushed at Link’s chest, trying to encourage him onto his back. Link leaned back onto his elbow and shuffled up the bed. Rhett barely let their lips separate, following Link into the new position. Since Link had left for college, Rhett hadn’t been back in this room, but they’d already shared so much history here. Their first sleepover, listening to music, writing their own songs together, planning their future… and now this.

Rhett held himself up and looked down at link underneath him. Link felt his cheeks redden.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Link said

“Link what?” Rhett said innocently.

“Like… you know,” Link replied.

“Like I think you’re attractive?” Rhett said with a small smile.

“Geez Rhett,” Link said, looking away. “Yeah. Stop it.”

Rhett bent down and kissed him again, partially to shut him up and partially because Link’s uncharacteristic shyness was so hard to resist. Link had never allowed Rhett to touch him like this and he didn’t want to waste the opportunity. He buried his hand under Link’s shirt and explored the shape of his body. The slight curve of his waist, his soft stomach, the prominent ribs of his slender frame. He’d wanted to touch Link for such a long time, and the knowledge that this was probably the only time he ever would almost brought him to tears again.

Rhett was invading all of Link’s senses. He could barely think of anything else. He brought one hand up to grip the back of Rhett’s head, pulling him close, and enjoyed the slightly alien feeling of stroking his soft, short hair. He ran his other hand along Rhett’s back and tried to reach his ass. His arms weren’t long enough though, so he settled for dipping his fingers under the waistband of Rhett’s jeans.

The kiss was becoming more and more intense. Rhett experimentally pushed his tongue past Link’s lips and to his relief, Link opened up to accept him.

It wasn’t until Link pulled Rhett completely down on top of him that he realised Rhett had a hard-on. Link tried not to react but he couldn’t help it. He’d gotten boners from kissing girls before, but he’d never caused one. It served as a reminder that he and Rhett were doing something forbidden; not to mention just how far they could potentially go.

He nudged Rhett’s shoulder slightly to get him to stop. “Rhett, I don’t wanna…” he started, too embarrassed to even say the words. “Christy and I haven’t even done it.”

Rhett gave him a sympathetic smile. “That’s okay. Me neither,” he said. “We can stop if you want.”

“I think we should.”

“Okay.”

“But I don’t want to.”

“Me neither.”

Rhett didn’t move and neither did Link, his hand still tucked into the back of Rhett’s pants.

After a moment, Link sighed. “I guess I’m going to hell now anyway.”

“Oh Link, that’s not true,” Rhett said, moving his hand to cup Link’s face. “You can be forgiven.”

“N’uh huh. Redemption requires repentance and I ain’t sorry,” Link said firmly.

Rhett nodded and considered Link’s response. “In that case, can I kiss you again?”

In answer to his question, Link pulled Rhett’s face back down and kissed him fiercely. It was wet and all teeth and tongue, but it was raw and masculine and completely unlike anything he’d experienced before.

Rhett’s hands continued to explore Link’s body, touching all he could reach in this new and exciting way. He hadn’t noticed he was grinding his hips against Link’s until he realised Link was hard as well. Testing the waters, he reached down between them and grazed his fingertips against the bulge in Link’s jeans.

Link gave a small satisfied moan and lifted his hips slightly, pushing his crotch towards Rhett’s hand. He reached down and opened the fly of his jeans, awkwardly with one hand, before wiggling his hips to try and pull them down and release his hardness.

“Can I?” Rhett gasped against Link’s lips, pawing at the elastic of his underwear.

“Just do it,” Link whispered back. At this point he was a little scared of what he might say yes to.

Rhett wasted no time in plunging his hand into Link’s underwear and pulling out his erection. At the same time, Link got to work opening Rhett’s jeans. Link was practically thrusting into Rhett’s hand by the time both their dicks were exposed.

Rhett scooted up the bed a little so their crotches were level and he could hold them both in one hand. He used the small amount of liquid leaking from Link’s tip to ease the friction between them before pulling his fist over both their lengths.

Link felt like a horny teenager, about to come after a few seconds of pressure. He didn’t want this moment to end and tried his best to hold back. Rhett seemed to sense his predicament and took his hand away, easing the pressure. Instead he rested his forehead against Link’s and started humping against his dick and moaning.

Link hardly had time to adjust to the new sensation before he was coming with a gasp. He quickly lifted his hand to cover the tip and try to prevent a mess on his clothes.

Rhett only had to give himself a few more strokes before he was coming in his own hand as well.

They lay still for a moment, breathing heavily, both too stunned to move.

“Wow,” Link said eventually.

“Uh huh,” Rhett said, before rolling over to lie beside Link on the small twin bed. He wiped his hand on is underwear, knowing he’d regret that later, and tucked himself back into his clothes.

Link lifted his hand and stared at the white liquid smeared on his palm. He hadn’t meant for this to happen. He wasn’t the kind of guy to cheat on his fiancée, but here he was looking right at the evidence. “Am I still a virgin?” he asked dumbly. “Actually, don’t answer that.”

“What are we gonna do?” Rhett said, his voice almost breaking.

Link sighed and shook his head. “The same thing we always do. Exactly what everyone expects of us.”

A sudden knock at the door made them both jump. Link sat up abruptly and tried to stuff his dick back into his jeans.

“Link honey, are you coming down?” Link’s mom called from the other side of the door. “Everyone wants to wish you luck before they go home.”

“Yeah Mom,” Link shouted back, scanning the room for something to clean his hand on. “I’ll be there in a minute. I’m just practising my toast for Rhett.”

“Okay sweetie, don’t be long.”

Neither spoke until they heard her footsteps disappear downstairs.

Link couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Some things never change, huh? Is my mom ever gonna stop interrupting me making out or jerking off?” Rhett laughed too as he sat up and joined Link on the edge of the bed.

“I guess I should get back,” Link said when his giggles had subsided.

“Yeah,” Rhett nodded. “I should get going.”

Link was quiet for a moment. They both knew what decision he was going to make, but he didn’t want to say it just yet. “I want you to stay.”

“I want to stay too, but if I don’t leave now, I probably never will.”

“I don’t want to lose you,” he said, taking Rhett’s hand in his clean one.

“That’s never going to happen,” Rhett said sincerely. “We can always be together, just in whatever way is appropriate.”

“Appropriate,” Link repeated, laughing bitterly. He looked Rhett in the eye and gave him a small smile.

“Yeah,” Rhett said, looking down at their joined hands. “I can’t believe we never did this before.”

“Impeccable timing.”

Rhett lifted his hand to Link’s jaw and gave him one last lingering kiss, doing his best to take note of every feeling and sensation.

Link broke away before he could start crying again. Rhett stroked his cheek gently before getting to his feet.

“Everything’s going to work out just fine. You’ll see,” Rhett said with more confidence than he felt.

“I know, you’re right,” Link said, staring at his hands.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I told you not to read this...

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Phileo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22453336) by [Mythical-Ross (ScorchedAngel)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScorchedAngel/pseuds/Mythical-Ross)




End file.
